Chipotle Refried Pinto Beans

An easy, hearty, and versatile refried bean recipe that works well as a side or as a filling for burritos and enchiladas. The peppers add a wonderful smoky flavor. Adjust the amount to your spice preferences.

Author: Ashley

Recipe type: Sides

Cuisine: Mexican

Serves: 8-10 servings

Ingredients

3 C. Pinto Beans, dried, rinsed

1 Onion, chopped

4-5 Garlic cloves, chopped

1" piece of kombu seaweed, can be omitted but adds trace minerals and improves digestibility of the beans

Soak beans in water about 8 hours. Overnight works well. You will need to cover the dried beans by at least a couple of inches of water because they will plump up. Discard the soaking water and rinse well.

If you can’t soak them, sometimes I forget, you can still make them. It will just take longer to cook.

Place beans in a large pot and cover with water by at least 1". Add onion, garlic, kombu, chipotle peppers, chili powder, oregano, and smoked paprika.

Stir, cover, and heat to boiling, turn the heat down to a simmer with cover slightly open. Cook for about 1 hour or until the beans are soft. To check, place a bean on a plate and smash with a spoon. If it is easy, they are cooked.

Remove the kombu, if desired.

Remove some of the liquid but save so that you can use it to thin the beans if necessary.

Blend with immersion blender or in a regular blender to desired consistency. Sometimes I make them fairly smooth and sometimes I leave them with more texture.

Add olive oil and salt to blended beans and place back in the original pot to heat through .

Notes

I freeze any extra beans in small glass containers for later use.

You can also cook these in a slow cooker for 5-6 hours.

These can also be cooked in a pressure cooker but the time will vary depending on the size, pressure your pot achieves, and whether you use the quick-release or natural-release method.

Adapted from Eat and Run by Scott Jurek

3.5.3239

You only need 10 ingredients for these delicious Chipotle Refried Pinto Beans! These are my go to pintos for all of my Mexican food favorites. You can adjust the spice level by increasing or decreasing the chipotle peppers.

This shows the beans once they have been cooked. They smell divine. Some beans take longer than others to cook.

Next, blend the beans to whatever consistency you like. Today I used the immersion hand blender but sometimes I use a regular blender. Be careful because they are hot. The red swirl in the picture is additional adobo sauce I had left over. I didn’t want to waste it.

Here they are served with chopped tomato, salsa, and pepitas. There is also Mexican spiced tofu, whole wheat tortilla, and fresh spring greens.

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